Janette Ribaut successfully defended her thesis on 12th May 2023
Janette Ribaut’s thesis is entitled "Moving eHealth powered medication adherence interventions from the trial world to the real world as part of the SMILe implementation science project" and seeks to improve the implementation of eHealth powered medication adherence interventions from the trial world to the real-world settings.
Medication non-adherence is common in many chronic condition populations and correlates strongly with declining patient health status, quality of life and ability to work, combined with increases in health care costs and mortality rates. Janette Ribaut’s dissertation aims to move eHealth powered medication adherence interventions from the trial world to the real world.
In this dissertation, we first describe a systematic review in which we found that published transplantation medication adherence intervention studies the lack of implementation-relevant information. This hinders the implementation of adherence-enhancing interventions in real-world transplant settings. Next, we report on the theory-driven development of an eHealth powered medication adherence module as part of an integrated care model for allogeneic stem cell transplantations as part of the SMILe implementation science project. In addition, we learned the patients’ challenges with medication self-management (e.g., frequent schedule changes), their self-developed strategies (linking their medication intake to other habits) and their preferences regarding Electronic Monitoring (EM) devices to measure medication adherence. They were open to use an EM device, preferably the MEMSButton® to be used in the SMILe hybrid effectiveness-implementation study at the University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland. This dissertation provides a detailed description of our applied methods serving as a guidance for other researchers.
And finally, we present a recently developed, future-oriented policy brief on priority setting to implement medication adherence interventions in Switzerland. Working on the priorities described in this policy brief will help bridge the gap between research and clinical practice and reduce the burden of medication non-adherence in Switzerland and beyond. All of our methods can serve as guidance for other researchers. Based on our findings and recommendations, this thesis’ focus on moving eHealth powered medication adherence interventions from trial to real world gives it the potential to achieve real impact in clinical practice.